Four on the trot for Hickstead winner Arianna
Friday 21 June 2024
.jpg "Four on the trot for Hickstead winner Arianna")
Tonbridge showjumper Arianna Kuligowksi, 23, continued her reign as one of the Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby Meeting’s most successful amateur competitors when winning Friday’s Hickstead 1.10m Amateur Championship with Ivascalle for the fourth time.
Although they’ve enjoyed such consistent success in this class, Arianna, who has had the mare since she was an unbroken three-year-old, said that being the firm favourite doesn’t take the pressure off.
“Actually, if anything, there’s more pressure!” she said. “People are watching you even more if you’ve won a few times. So it makes you feel you’ve got to do a good job!”
Today’s track, which saw nine of the 16 starters go into the jump-off, offered up a tough, academic challenge.
“There were three doubles, which you don’t usually get, including a double of planks – if you tap them, then they're gone, so you've got no leeway. The course was a little bit twisting and there was a lot of related distances.”
Arianna, who rides for her family’s Horse Power Motor Centre Ltd, said that 11-year-old Ivascalle comes into her own when she gets to compete in Hickstead’s iconic main ring.
“I'm pretty sure she knows when she comes here, because even in the back rings, she's on it, always. There's no doubt about it,” she said. “And then she definitely knows when she's coming in the main ring, because she's always super excited, and getting all revved up when she comes down the chute!”
The Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby Meeting runs from 20-23 June at Hickstead in West Sussex. Tickets are available at the gate or can be booked online at www.hickstead.co.uk. All the action from the International Arena will be livestreamed on ClipMyHorse.TV and Hickstead.TV.
Image credit: Boots and Hooves Photography
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